The most helpful favorable review

The most helpful critical review

44 of 48 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 starsImpressive So Far!
I have now been using this for about a week and am very impressed. I upgraded from an Enermax Revolution 85+ 1050 Watt Power Supply which was a critically acclaimed unit itself. I love the fact that this power supply is FULLY modular. Whenever you have to replace it you can just undo all the cables from the PSU and leave the cables intact in your case. You then can...

1.0 out of 5 starscoil whine!
I read, I researched, and it spent a good amount of time doing this. Corsair AX860 has many complaints of "coil whine" or a constant high pitched sound even if your computer is off. It gets worse when your computer is on. I thought "how bad could it be?" and "others were just unlucky." Big mistake. Not surprisingly, this item states "unavailable from Amazon due to...

I have now been using this for about a week and am very impressed. I upgraded from an Enermax Revolution 85+ 1050 Watt Power Supply which was a critically acclaimed unit itself. I love the fact that this power supply is FULLY modular. Whenever you have to replace it you can just undo all the cables from the PSU and leave the cables intact in your case. You then can remove the power supply easily and install the replacement (which of course would be a Corsair too)! Remember, the hardest part about installing or replacing a power supply is organizing the cables in your case. This is very time consuming.

The power supply runs very cool, but I am only using about 25% of its power capacity right now. Unlike other reviewers who base their reviews on performance subjectively, I did test the power supply before I installed using a Coolmax power supply tester. Everything was tight!

While there are other power supplies out there that compete with this (like the newly released Antec HCP 1200 Unit, I chose the Corsair because they have always been about Quality and Performance for the enthusiast from their memory only days. This unit also comes with a 7 year warranty versus 5 for the Antec and other competeing units.

You can also get hold of Corsair by phone if you need to! They do not hide their phone number like other vendors all over the web.

While this power supply is probably overkill for most, if you are a Computer Enthusiast, Overclocker, and/or Multi-GPU Gamer, this is YOUR POWER SUPPLY. Well done Corsair! Superb...........

This is a great power supply. I'm abusing it with bitcoin mining 24/7. They throw in a lot of fancy stuff, velvet bag, etc, but cheap out on the 12V sockets on the ATX connector. They're only rated for 6A or so and it's easy to pull more than that.

What this means is that if you put in 3 PCI-e video cards that each draw 75W (through the socket) you will burn the plastic off the ATX connector around those sockets, and then your computer will randomly shut off. I called Corsair to discuss this and they at least said they'd look into it.

If you want to fix it yourself it's not too hard with less than $20 worth of parts from DigiKey. Feel free to comment/contact me if you want the part numbers. It's a a lot cheaper/easier to fix it before you burn the plastic off. (I also have pictures, if you want to see them, I don't think I can link them here. Look up my blog if you want to see.)

I'm still giving it five stars because I know this is really an edge case, but I think it's going to be more common soon. I'll also note I had this happen with a 1kW CoolerMaster PSU. Basically all consumer PSUs use cheap sockets there instead of Molex HCS sockets. Just to give you some idea how silly this is, those sockets cost ~0.50 each (needed: 2) when buying in single-item quantities. It drops to just a few cents apiece when buying in bulk (as Corsair would). How much does a velvet bag cost?

Wow, this power supply is great. It has all modular cables, no guess work on where to plug them in since it is all on one rail, is totally silent, and looks good in a typical black mid-tower case. I haven't heard a peep and I have been able to overclock my Intel i7 processor about 550 mhz and both of my GTX480 video cards with no noticeable noise and no, zero, nada freezes or reboots. So therefore I recommend this as a worry free power supply to buy.

I really do love these PSUs. I have another of the "i" series which is king-of-the-hill, but this is the best value. Tremendously stable and efficient. Fan rarely runs. Just remember to re-check your modular connectors are plugged into the appropriate place, as they will fit in the wrong place. Also,check that they have not pulled out after mucking around with your cables!!!

I read, I researched, and it spent a good amount of time doing this. Corsair AX860 has many complaints of "coil whine" or a constant high pitched sound even if your computer is off. It gets worse when your computer is on. I thought "how bad could it be?" and "others were just unlucky." Big mistake. Not surprisingly, this item states "unavailable from Amazon due to investigation" at the time of this review.

After trying to ignore it, the coil whine is REALLY annoying after hours of sitting near the computer. It is a subtle noise that you really notice because it is really high pitched and stands out from other environmental noise. I bought a Seasonic X850 PSU to replace this and couldn't be happier! This PSU, like the Corsair AX860, is made by the best "internet rumored" US PSU manufacture, Seasonic. The Seasonic X850 has different branding (looks really similar to the Corsair AX860 though), different cable patterns (Corsair AX850 cables don't work on the Seasonic X850), does not come with all sleeved cables (only the motherboard cable is), and a 80 Plus Gold rating (opposed to 80 Plus Plat of the Corsair AX860). But it doesn't have a droning high pitch noise! It is literally mute if you put your ear on it while the computer is running or not. The fan doesn't turn on until your computer parts demand more power. At full blast, the fan is no louder than "quiet" rated computer fans.

After doing some research, the reasoning behind the Corsair AX860 and its identical twin Seasonic 860 having the high pitched "coil whine" noise deals with recent requirements changing for 80 Plus Platinum rating. Different components have to be used to meet this new high efficiently requirement, which results in electronic noise of coils. It can happen to any coil, but the ones used by the Seasonic 860 and Corsair AX860 happen to all exhibit this issue. Some people are less susceptible to this high pitch noise and may not hear it much, but if your hearing is really good (though not perfect), you will notice it.

On another note, I bought a Corsair AX860i (made by Flextronics) and it also had a high pitched noise (less than the AX860, no "i"), but it would run the fan full blast for a few seconds every boot up, which was annoying. The fan at full blast was extremely really loud.

Lesson learned... don't buy 80 Plus Plat rating PSU's from Seasonic or Corsair. The benefits of a high efficiently PSU are moot - 80 Plus Gold is more than good enough. Not hearing the high pitch drone is such a relief to my ears! Looking for another PSU? Get the Seasonic X850... literally noiseless and arguably the highest performance you can get.

Update(3/16/2014):Made some big upgrades to my PC and noticed the little pin which holds the modular CPU connector to the power supply itself has broken off and gone missing. Not a big deal, but would be nice if it hadn't broken off so early. Also the 6/8 pin PCIe connectors seem to be rather difficult to bend the extra 2 pins away to install on my new GTX770(power connectors directly next to each other).

Pros: It has a 7 year warranty, is fully modular, with completely blacked out cables. Has a Hybrid/Normal switch for the 120mm fan operation though I can't see why people would use anything but hybrid. Silent as far as I can tell, whether the fan is on or off it surely gets no louder than any of my other components(fan facing down in my 600T case). Very highly rated among tech review sites that have the gear to put these things to the test, and it should be with an 80Plus Platinum rating. It comes with a bag including all the cables you could ever need, and even a bag that the power supply itself comes in, a few cable ties, and some screws for mounting. It's rather small compared to my 7 year old 680 watt thermaltake power supply that it replaced, and isn't necessarily more quiet(no louder either)...but that power supply was already quiet even with 2 fans on all the time(90mm I think). It's not all flat cables, some might think of that as a con, but I feel it's a pro(see con's for why).

Cons: The CPU cable made it with enough slack, but I was worried with how short it was. I did have to use the closest modular connector on the power supply and the closest wire management hole(near the power supply) on my case to make sure it had enough slack. I could see the CPU connector having difficulties making it in a good sized full tower case. The flat cables are rather stiff, and the SATA power cable connectors are spaced way too far apart for hard drives. I had to move my hard drives so that there's a blank HDD sled/slot between them, and even then had to bend the cable a fair amount just to get the 2 consecutive connectors to fit into both of my hard drives. This puts stress on both the cables and the connectors that shouldn't be necessary if they had included a SATA power cable with connectors spaced for average HDD cages. I think that it's ridiculous, most HDD cages have hard drives spaced out about the same and there's no reason corsair couldn't make the cables fit like they should. I had no problem like this with my old power supply that had single sleeved cables which allowed my HDD's to sit right next to each other in the HDD cage. It makes me want to modify the cables(probably void the warranty) or get an extender that has better spacing. It would be made even better if a cable had 3 HDD spaced SATA power connectors with a 4th last one far enough to reach the 5.25" bay as most DVD burners or bluray drives use SATA power. As you can see that was probably the biggest con for me, and it may seem little, but it's little things like this that can be obnoxious...especially since it's the 1 component that probably takes the most work to swap out(beyond maybe the motherboard).

Personally I don't know why people praise flat cables for power supplies, they don't look much, if any better than a blacked out single sleeved cable, and definitely aren't quite as easy to route. I actually picked this in part because only the SATA and Molex cables are flat cables.

Cons out of the way, it's still a great power supply, but still not perfect in my eyes. Some might see what I disliked as nit picky(reason for the title) and even I think it is slightly, but sometimes the small things make all the difference in the world.

Everything included with this power supply is made High Quality.The Best on the Market Bar None! It has enough power and then some to tackle just about anything necessary to keep your computer running at top performance. I am totally satisfied. It is worth the extra $$ to have something you can depend on and with a 7 year warranty that will outlast the computer.

I chose the Corsair AX760 PSU for my third build and find its' an excellent performer. There is a post in the 2-star rating about a "Coil Whine noise" with this unit. I wrote Corsair Tech Support about this issue, and here's what they wrote back: "The noise is not normal to the unit. It's very difficult to test units for audible noise in reality, because Corsair's test environment has a very clean power source. Many times, the noises come from the PFC filter circuitry or components used in the AC-DC conversion process, and these components all can react differently based on how clean the power source is. A unit that performs silently here in the lab may buzz or click in a house with older wiring, or using a failing battery-powered UPS, or any number of other things." I have not experienced this abnormal problem, but it makes sense that a highly efficient PSU might depend on having a clean power source coming from the wall plug. I highly recommend the AX760 and give it 5 stars. Corsair's tech response was within 24 hours and they fully answered my question.

My 1 month update: I am so very pleased with this Corsair PSU. It's working great, there's no coil whine issue, and it's been a wonderful addition to my quiet-designed gaming pc. I'm using an Asus GTX 770 GPU and my system has all the clean and quiet power it needs.

This power supply is the answer to a ultimate gaming machine. I'm running two Nvidia 580s EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Superclocked 1536 MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 2DVI/Mini-HDMI SLI Ready Limited Lifetime Warranty Graphics Card, 015-P3-1582-AR, 2 SSDs, 3 HHDs, 1 BlueRay, 1 high speed CD-RW and 7 fans inside my HAF X case. This power supply has proven to be exactly what an overclocked gaming comp needs. The supplied cables are long enough to run behind the board and make installation clean. Power supply works perfectly with windows hybernation. I highly recommend this product if your power needs are high; remember to use a power needs calculator to ensure your not over buying and wasting power and/or creating excess heat.

I was expecting this to be a top notch PSU but the first unit I received was emitting really high pitch noise that would vary depending on system load (but still whine when PC was shut off). I sent it back to Amazon assuming that the replacement would be better. Unfortunately for me it was worse, the replacement unit was emitting buzzing noise when plugged into the wall (without connecting any leads) and emitted coil whine when I plugged in all the leads. Tested it with different power cables, different outlets, different PCs, it makes no difference. Now I will have to pay to ship this back to corsair and hope that the 3rd one will be better.

If this unit was priced at around 50$, I would understand, but at 160$ this is completely inexcusable because essentially what they did was take a Seasonic PSU (that shares the exact same issue), slap a corsair label on it and put it on sale without doing any additional testing. I truly wish I listened to other reviews and never purchased this product. I will definitely update this review once my 3rd replacement arrives.